MA MST Info

The "CCRMA MA/MST program" is the Music Department's Master of Arts degree in Music, Science, and Technology. This is a one- to two-year master's program built primarily around CCRMA courses from fall through spring.

Note that there are no elective courses the first quarter. However, if you have had most of the material in any required course, you can ask your adviser to replace that course with one better suited to your educational background and goals.

A default depth track in the MA/MST program is music/audio signal processing. In preparation for this track, it is good to learn/review Matlab, calculus, and complex numbers before starting Music 320A.

Alternative depth tracks can be worked out with your program adviser, in which case Music 320A&B are the only required signal-processing courses. Example alternative depth tracks include Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) for music, music perception/psychoacoustics/cognition/neuroscience, musical acoustics, computational acoustic modeling, recording technology, auditory display, sonification, Music Information Retrieval (MIR), networked audio, computer-music composition, and mobile music computing. In each case, an appropriate CCRMA faculty adviser will sponsor and help choose courses for your depth track.

While the MA/MST program is based on three full quarters of course work (ideally spread out over more time to provide ample time for projects), many courses contain project components that can be aimed toward research. In many cases, research projects may span multiple course projects. If you are interested in research emphasis, discuss with your instructor in all relevant CCRMA courses.

Regarding course units, the general guideline is that each unit corresponds to three hours per week of concentrated effort (including class time). Therefore, 15 units is nominally a 45 hour-per-week load (which is a LOT, since most of us spend a couple of hours for each concentrated hour of work produced.) Try to make sure your program plan does not force you to take significantly more than 15 units in any quarter. In general, winter quarter tends to be the most packed with units.

The MA_MST_Courses page gives list of currently required courses and some of the electives commonly included.